The core of the problem here is not so much politics and science, it is the fact that this science is directly tied to people living or dying. That ramps up the emotional load to 11 and when that happens logic and reason often take a back seat.

This is a big flaw in human psychology

Emotion is where cults live, and we have science worshipers that attach themselves to an "Expert" like one would attach themselves to a Cult Leader, instead of being rational actors looking at the data the experts are presenting and using their own rationality and logic to understand the situation